New York City Actor Kills Himself After “Forced” Euthanasia of His Beloved Pit Bull

Struggling soap-opera actor Nick Santino used to say that the Pit Bull mix he rescued actually rescued him. Santino grew up in an orphanage and foster homes, but when he adopted his dog, Rocco, several years ago, they bonded deeply, perhaps more than he had with any of his temporary families. Rocco was his family.

But both are now dead, and friends and neighbors are saying it’s because his Upper West Side building’s management had been harassing him for months about Rocco. In 2010, building management passed strict dog regulations with a pit bull ban. Rocco, the only pit bull in the building, was grandfathered in. But the harassment had apparently grown unbearable in recent months.

Among the difficulties, Rocco was no longer allowed to ride in the main elevators, and one condo neighbor complained the dog was a barker, even though other neighbors said it was not true. Management threatened Santino with a $250 fine.

“Everybody knows that he had been harassed by the building management,” said neighbor Lia Pettigrew, who works in the pet-care industry.

“People were complaining about his dog,” said neighbor Kevan Cleary, adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School. “It was open season on him.”

On Tuesday, something inside Santino snapped, or more likely, broke under pressure. Santino took his healthy best friend out of the building one last time and had him euthanized.

But overcome with the horror of what he had done, Santino took an overdose of medication later that night — after tearfully giving the doorman and neighbors Rocco’s treat, rawhides, and bed. It was a day after his 47th birthday.

His suicide note included this, according to a friend:

“Today I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend. Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn’t deserve this.”

Rocco has been cremated, and Santino will be, too. Their friends will make sure their ashes will end up together forever.

This story is just so tragic, and I am sorry to bring it to you on a Monday morning. But it’s important to tell it. Maybe it will be a cautionary tale against this kind of discrimination. Yes, Santino was down on his luck, and there may have been more going on than we know about. Maybe he could have moved, but that’s not easy in New York City, especially with a Pit Bull. Through the haze of bullying and harassment, Santino could not see clearly. I hope someone has to answer for this. (Building management did not respond to inquiries by media.)

RIP together, Nick and Rocco.

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Stop calling it ‘euthanasia’

You know what New Year’s resolution I’d like to see every journalist, animal activist, shelter communications director, and, well, everyone, make?

To stop using the word “euthanasia” to describe the killing of healthy or treatable pets.

When my Deerhound Raven was dying of bone cancer, every morning when she opened her eyes I waited to see if there was joy in them. Joy at the sunshine, at seeing my face, at the prospect of facing another day.

A few times there wasn’t; they were dull and flat. But I would do something — adjust her meds, have her acupuncturist visit, love her extra-hard — and as long as the next morning her eyes lit up for a few minutes, we kept on trying.

And when Raven’s eyes stayed flat, when she couldn’t settle into a comfortable position, when she didn’t care about food or walks or even me, that was the day we were done.

I held her across my lap, and smoothed back her ears, and kissed her as she sighed and closed her eyes. I felt her body, tense against the pain, relax. I felt her weight on my legs get heavier. I heard her breathe, then give a little gasp, then breathe… and then stop.

I told her I loved her, and then I let her go.

That’s “the last great gift, when you take your animal’s pain and make it your own.” That’s euthanasia.

It is so incredibly painful to hear that word applied to the killing of a pet for no reason except that she or he is homeless. Using a term that speaks to the loving end of suffering, the same mercy I wish I could have shown my mother when she was dying, is cruel and disrespectful to everyone who has ever made that last agonizing decision for a beloved pet.

It’s also disrespectful to the animals being killed, by acting as if what’s being done to them is a gift, or an act of mercy.

And above all, using “euthanasia” when you mean “killing” is a lie. Just stop.

Photo: Raven, taken by Sandy Lurins.

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